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Fulham 0-1 Stoke City. Poor Show From Europa League Finalists

By David Jester

Fulham beat West Ham 3-2 on the weekend when they played in the shadow of the Liverpool/Chelsea and Sunderland/Manchester United game, and today, at home to Stoke, they were playing in the shadow of the big game up at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Fulham were Evens for the win on Bet365 (who are offering £200 in Free Bets for any new customers, just click and follow the link) whilst Stoke were priced nicely at 3/1. Fulham were surely going to see this as practice for the Europa League Final though and this result looked like it was only going one way; but football is never that simple.

The game lacked chances and energy and looked to be heading for another 0-0, a result that Fulham had seen a few times in the League during their European campaign. But Stoke had other ideas and with just seven minutes left to play, Matthew Etherington knocked in from a deflected cross with a goal that proved to be the winner for the away side.

Fulham had fielded a strong team despite their big Final being just a week away but they will be hoping for a better display in Germany when they play Athletico Madrid for the Europa League trophy.

David Jester is the Newsblaze Soccer expert. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/DavidJester